Why Olympic fencing was kept over wrestling

Discussion in 'Weapons' started by Mitlov, Feb 19, 2013.

  1. Mitlov

    Mitlov Shiny

    Really good article from fencing.net about why wrestling was axed instead of fencing from the 25 core sports. Obviously I don't want to see wrestling removed from the Olympics, and its removal is surprising to say the least, but this article gives some good insights as to some of the practical problems with wrestling in the Olympics and what needs to be done to restore its status as a core sport.

    http://www.fencing.net/12655/2020-olympics-why-fencing-is-okay/

    A couple of the highlights:

    (1) Wrestling is one of the only male-only sports left, and they really haven't made any effort to change that. Fencing, on the other hand, added women's saber a couple Olympics ago (the one weapon that had historically been male-only), making fencing totally equal gender-wise.

    (2) Historically, neither wrestling nor fencing has been very spectator-friendly. Fencing, however, has made numerous changes in everything from gear to directing to make it more spectator-friendly. Wrestling, on the other hand, hasn't.

    (3) Fencing changed its qualification structure to add a wild-card system that would get people from historically-uncompetitive countries into the Olympics. This has resulted in surprise upsets at the Olympics itself, resulting in a gold medal for Venezuela (their first Olympic gold ever) and a silver medal for Egypt (Africa's first fencing medal ever). Wrestling hasn't done the equivalent to my knowledge.
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2013
  2. Hannibal

    Hannibal Cry HAVOC and let slip the Dogs of War!!! Supporter

    Women have medaled well recently so I don't see how the first stands up at all
     
  3. TakadaDojoKeith

    TakadaDojoKeith Valued Member

    Women wrestle in the Olympic. The Japanese women's wrestling medallists are celebrities over here. In fact, I think one of them may have beaten Karelin's unbeaten streak, but don't quote me on that. Gotta go back and check.
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2013
  4. Mitlov

    Mitlov Shiny

    I hadn't realized that women's wrestling was added as a sport. I probably mis-paraphrased the article as to that point. It might be a question of how well the women's program is supported and whether they have a critical mass of female competitors (definitely true for women's fencing, but I've never seen a women's wrestling team in any context besides the Olympics itself).

    EDIT: The article doesn't say that there's no women's wrestling; that was my erroneous addition. It makes the point of how well-supported and how competitive women's fencing is, implying the same isn't true for women's wrestling.
     
    Last edited: Feb 19, 2013
  5. Combat Sports

    Combat Sports Formerly What Works Banned

    That whole thing makes me sad. Things were seriously looking up for Wrestling because of MMA.
     
  6. Mangosteen

    Mangosteen Hold strong not

    well wrestling has only recently added women's divisions and it's mainly participated in by the lower classes so keeping wrestling would enact social change in the lower classes of rural areas like india etc

    my theory why it was kicked was because FILA (the wrestling association) support MMA and sub-grappling (and even gi grappling) heavily.

    I imagine the IJF didnt like this too much and it would give MMA a better buy into the olympics at a later time.

    MMA orgs must be loving it though. rather than wrestlers headed to and training for the olympics everything will start moving towards MMA orientation.

    The competitors going into MMA in 2020 won't be collegiate level wrestlers, they'll be olympic level but never had the chance to go to the olympics.
     
  7. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Damn, better get my TD defence up to par.


    /Beast Mode On
     
  8. Mitlov

    Mitlov Shiny

    And that'll probably get played up more and more in the future. Frankly, for young wrestlers, MMA is probably a bigger draw than the Olympics anyway, because (1) amateur MMA is so widespread that it's a lot easier to get into MMA than into post-school wrestling competition, and (2) there's money involved, at least if you get good enough.
     
  9. Stolenbjorn

    Stolenbjorn Valued Member

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